We're on a countdown to the release of The MOSAIC EP on 16 June 2017 and as I start finalizing how I want to share my songs during the release show, I came across Padraig O'Tuama's poem "In The Name" in his book "In The Shelter: Finding a Home in the World". After reading through it at least 4-5 times in a row and writing a big 'WOW' over its title, I know that this was the way to start a musical conversation about bringing all of the broken pieces of ourselves into a room together and wrestle through what it looks like to become a little more whole. I love so much how it gives people the space to be honest about where they're at and realize that we're all on this journey together towards healing, hope and redemption.

It's my hope that the CD release concert will give people an opportunity to not only hear my story but share their own stories and, in the sharing of our stories together, we can create a safe space to be honest about the realities of life, the nuances of faith, and the freedom and grace that makes wholeness possible.

Here's the poem for your own reflection ...

IN THE NAME

In the name of goodness and love and broken community.

In the name of meaning and feeling and I hope you don’t screw me

In the name of darkness and light and ungraspable twilight

In the name of mealtimes and sharing and caring by firelight

In the name of action, of peace and of human redemption

In the name of eating, of drinking and table confession

In the name of sadness, regret, and holy obsession

The holy name of anger, the spirit of aggression

In the name of forgive and forget, and I hope I get over this

In the name of fathers and mothers and unholy spirits

In the name of beauty and broken and beaten up daily

In the name of seeing our creeds and believing in maybe

We gather here, a roomful of strangers

And speak of our hopeland, and talk of our danger

To make sense of our thinking, to authenticate lives

To humanize feeling and stop telling lies

In the name of philosophy, of theology, and who gives a damn

In the name of employment and study and finding new family

In the name of our passions, our lovings and indecent obsessions

In the name of prayer, of worship and demon possession

In the name of solitude, of quiet and holy reflection

In the name of the lost, the lonely and the without-direction

In the name of the early and the late and the wholly ineffectual

In the name of the straight and the queer, transgender and bisexual

In the name of bootclogs, and boobjobs, and erectile dysfunction,

In the name of schizophrenia, hysteria and obsessive compulsion

In the name of Jesus, and Mary and the mostly silent Joseph.

In the name of speaking to ourselves, saying, “this is more than I can cope with”

In the name of touchup, and breakup, and breakdown-and-weeping

In the name of therapy, and Prozac and full-hearted breathing

In the name of sadness and madness and years-since-I’ve-smiled

In the name of the Unknown, the Alien, and of the Wholly-in-Exile

In the name of the named and the unnamed and the names of the nameless

In the name of the prayers that repeat 'I wish that I could change this'

I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so many amazing musicians! Last Saturday I was able to spend a good portion of the day with some great friends/musicians working out the arrangements for the 6 songs on the album. It was the first step in seeing them really come into their own and got all of us SO EXCITED to continue to put in the hard work of helpging them come to life over the next few months.

I had an absolute blast recording the video for my Kickstarter campaign with Jason Reif on the bridges of Bethlehem, PA. We were also able to get some great footage capturing the heart behind the album. You can see the final video on youtube and on our Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806022972/the-mosaic-ep